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OnePlus Nord 5 review: Nothing incremental about this generational leap
Five years after the original Nord phone, Nord 5 is this series’ biggest generational transition defined by hardware, software and cross-platform compatibility
It was in the midst of the year of the pandemic, 2020 if you’ve forgotten, when OnePlus decided it was the right time to find their true north. The OnePlus Nord series was born, a more affordable take on Android phones, reminiscent to their earlier days of the OnePlus One. Pete Lau, CEO of OnePlus, had revealed these plans in an exclusive conversation with me, a few months prior. Five years later, the Nord 5 arrives with the sort of poise that simply adds a sense of seriousness to OnePlus’ already on-point smartphone portfolio. They don’t launch many phones in a year, something their rivals also are beginning to replicate, which makes success all the more pivotal.
The OnePlus Nord 5, at least as far as the collective of the specs, software, and experience go, is closer to an alternative flagship phone experience, than any predecessor has been at their generational points in time. A 144Hz OLED display, for instance, is being seen on this series for the first time. As is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 mobile platform, which makes it the first time a Snapdragon 8 series chip powers a Nord phone. As is the 6,800mAh battery, which becomes the highest capacity pack among like-for-like competition.
How much will this significant step forward in terms of performance, cost you? There are two memory options, that is 8GB and 12GB, along with two storage picks, those being 256GB and 512GB (both are UFS 3.1 standard for read and write). The prices start at ₹29,999. This pits it against the impressive Nothing Phone 3(a) Pro, and Xiaomi’s very efficient Redmi Note 14 Pro+ phones, and both phones have enough credentials to make this anything but a cakewalk for the OnePlus Nord 5 in terms of convincing potential buyers. In that sense, OnePlus has done enough to differentiate not just the personality (there is a hint of resurrection of the first generation OnePlus Nord), but also elements that’d define longevity.
Take for instance the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chip, which isn’t outright sprightly with handling some serious multitasking, but also does well with a fair amount of time you may spend with some of the recent gaming titles, such as Call of Duty: Mobile. This is where it is important to point out that the chip isn’t the only reason. OnePlus has some behind-the-scenes smarts very much in play, that help with overall performance. The Adreno Frame Motion Engine 2.0 is specific for recreating details in gaming visuals and making full use of the high refresh rate display that the Nord 5 has.
For most of us, the new Cryo-velocity VC cooling system will deliver everyday value, by keeping the Nord 5 perceptibly cooler than quite a few Android phones in similar workloads. Except when using the camera for clicking photos for a significant amount of time, or recording even a couple of minutes of a 4K 60fps video. It is overall something not easily achieved, with so much power packed in ultra-slim designs. Heating has been a persistent fixture with flagship and mid-range Android phones over the past couple of generations, partly because of ever more powerful chips designed for AI processing too, as well as slimmer designs. There is also less space due to wider footprints cornered by battery and camera modules. Space is at a premium, and is being packed like sardines. Well, almost.
I do have an observation about the OxygenOS and its evolution, because with every iteration, choices of fonts, interface colour palette, use of white space and iconography, feel less premium. The long-time OnePlus users reading this review may agree with me, that OnePlus’ software design language was more refined a couple of OxygenOS generations prior, than today. The idea never should have been to unify the visual elements of OxygenOS with the software that sibling Oppo’s phones use. Yet, this is something you’d have to make do with.
OnePlus, with the 6,800mAh battery capacity, outdoes Xiaomi’s 6,600mAh battery pack in the competing Redmi Note phone, and is much more than the 5,000mAh battery that Nothing has deployed. Results in terms of real-world usage are impressive. This high density battery, without compromising on thickness and weight, does deliver almost two days worth of usage on a single charge. The OnePlus Nord 5 keeping cool, helps make a case for strong and consistent battery stamina as well. Yet, you’ll need to be sure to use the Bypass Charging methodology when gaming, because that’ll not charge the battery whilst gaming, and thereby reduce chances of faster degradation due to additional innards heating.
There is that much-expected dose of AI as well, led by the Plus Key that has replaced the Alert Slider that found its fans over generations. OnePlus is trying to simplify access to the suite of tools that’s now integrated. Relevance and utility will depend on what you’re using it for, and much like a few other elements of any tech we use, this is firmly classified as subjective. AI Plus Mind, for instance, wants to be akin to your trusty diary — everything from calendar events to notes to a screenshot you’d saved for context later, all in one place for search later. This may not always work best for everyone, but this is very much work in progress.
One could argue that the OnePlus Nord 5 needed a troika of cameras at the back, and not the dual setup this gets (with the context of the Nord CE5 also looming in the shadows). Nevertheless, the primary 50-megapixel wide and the 8-megapixel ultra wide more than deliver across photography scenarios and lighting conditions. Better than one may have initially expected, with slight improvements in the first major firmware update that arrived during the review window.
While OnePlus has used a Samsung JN5 sensor for the wide primary camera, its image processing takes a significantly different approach to how photos emerge on Samsung’s own A series phones. Or indeed even the Nothing Phone 3(a) Pro, with its impressive camera. Skin tones seem most accurately replicated with the Nord 5, whole overall colours are at par with the Phone 3(a) Pro. Where the Nord 5 gets a significant advantage is with background detailing, with a notch more crispness than competition.
One of the reasons why OnePlus phones have delivered value a notch higher than many a competition, is due to the layering of utility. That hasn’t changed with the Nord 5. Case in point, Open Canvas for multitasking with more than one app sharing the screen size, or “Share with iPhone” feature in O+Connect alongside compatibility with Mac and Windows computing devices. The walls between ecosystems stand tall, but instances like the OnePlus Nord 5, do their bit to tear them down.
All things considered, the OnePlus Nord 5 is a significant upgrade not just for anyone still holding on to an older generation Nord phone (or any affordable Android phone for that matter), but also last year’s OnePlus Nord 4 which was impressive in its own right. OnePlus has largely made the right changes to make the Nord 5 a generational lap, instead of an incremental update. And that defines longevity, which underlines the perception of value.
